The Editorials

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia wins $100,000 NLNG Literature Prize for 2021. Her work "The Son of the House won the 2021 edition of the grand prize. While Nigerian writer and academic Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike , was selected as the winner of 2021 The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism category . He won in the category Self-Publishing in the era of military rule in Nigeria, 1985 – 1999”, “Postcolonial Ogres in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow”, and “Land of cemetery: funereal images in the poetry of Musa Idris Okpanachi”. The literary criticism prize carries a monetary value of N1 million. The judges stated that there has been a visible improvement in writing skills and commended Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, (founder and sponsors of the prize), for giving writers the platform to blossom and experiment.

Oredola Adeola   The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA has condemned the unlawful siege on the Abuja residence of  Justice Mary  Peter-Odili,  Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Friday night by officers of the Nigerian security agencies. This was contained in a statement by the NBA President, Olumide Akpata, in reaction to the raid.   According to the NBA President,  I received with grave concern the news of the raid which erode the independence of sacred democratic institutions like the Judiciary, undermine the rule of law in Nigeria.   Akpata said he would be convening an emergency meeting of the NBA National Executive Committee solely to discuss this issue and take a definitive stand on behalf of the NBA, vowing to  lead a delegation to the AGF, Mr. Abubakar Malami, and the relevant heads of security agencies to seek further clarification on the circumstances of this incident. He said, “Almost 24 hours later, information concerning the basis of the siege remains hazy and the su

The University of Aberdeen    in Scotland on Thursday handed over a Benin Bronze to Nigeria after over 100 years since it was looted by British forces. The sculpture  is  the head of an king (Oba) . It was  looted by British force , with  thousands of religious and cultural artefacts in 1897 during  the destruction of Benin City in present-day Nigeria by a British military expedition. The artifact  was later purchased by the University of Aberdeen at an auction in 1957. According to a recent review of collections included research into its provenance , it was revealed that the artifact  was one of the so-called ‘bronzes’, acquired in immoral circumstances during the Benin Punitive Expedition in which the royal palace of the Oba was burned and looted. Professor Bankole Sodipo, Professor of Law in Babcock University, Nigeria, in 2020 facilitated a meeting  between the   UK University and  the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria, the Edo State Government and the Royal

“I swore by the Holy Qur’an that I will serve in accordance with the constitution and leave when my time is up. No “Tazarce’’ (tenure extension). I don’t want anybody to start talking about and campaigning for unconstitutional extension. I will not accept that.” This was the statement of President Muhammadu Buhari, at a meeting in Makkah with a select group of Nigerians resident in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he just ended a visit.   The statement of the President was contained in a release by Garba Shehu,  Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity on Friday.   President Buhari also tacitly expressed support to efforts to increase the role of technology in the nation’s elections, arguing that the introduction of the card reader and electronic register was God’s answer to his prayers, having been cheated of his victory in three previous elections. “After the third so-called defeat, I said, ‘God Dey’. My opponents laughed at me but God answered my prayers by